Hijutsu
by Surl
Summary: What if the Third had taken a hand in Naruto's training. AU


The Third Hokage of Konoha fell to the floor as his last breath left him and his soul was consumed by the Death God himself. He died safe in the knowledge that he had stopped his student Orochimaru's ambitions, even if only temporarily, and his most prized and powerful student would live on to take up the mantle of protector after him.

The Third could feel the all consuming power of the Death God as he floated deep in the darkness off to wherever he was going, it scared him on a level that he did not know humans were capable of feeling that he was going further into the unknown than anyone. other than his successor and predecessor Minato Namikaze of course. Maybe he would meet him there in the pit of the Death God's stomach. He hoped that Minato would forgive him for the treatment his son was forced to endure, and maybe that his taking the boy on as a student and loving him as a son would redeem him if, only a little bit.

Yes he had trained Naruto very well, the boy was easily as strong as any Jonin in the village and when he tapped into the Kyuubi's chakra he was an equal match for the Third himself. It had taken many years for Naruto to gain some level of control over his demon and even then it was only a tentative truce between them, in exchange for being released into a chakra constructed body once per month the fox would allow Naruto to use four tails of its power without repercussions or loss of control. The fox was summoned with its own contract with one tail of power far away from the village while Naruto kept the ability to dismiss the summon at all times. It required only a small modification to the original seal, Jiraya was at first greatly against modifying the Seal but after a lot of begging and hours of puppy dog eyes from Naruto he relented and was very helpful when they came to alter the seal.

It was a fair trade in Sarutobi's opinion, one day of pseudo freedom for the fox and more power than most shinobi would ever feel for Naruto to use as he saw fit. Naruto was now strong enough to protect himself from the dangers that came with being Jinchuriki.

The Third Hokage of Konoha had done his best for his village and for Naruto, even as he felt himself dying he knew he was happy.

A small smirk appeared on his face as his last thought materialised.

Orochimaru was in for quite a surprise judging from the power he could feel heading towards them.

* * *

Naruto landed softly on the ground as Gaara landed next to him with enough force to shatter the earth and bring down a few trees around him. With a deep sigh he turned to his opponent and kneeled beside him.

"It's over Gaara, your demon couldn't hope to stand up to mine. Nine tails are better than one after all..." He trailed off as Gaara's eyes bulged and widened in shock.

"Your a container like me..yet you fight for others..why?" Gaara asked from his place on the floor, blood trailing from his mouth.

"Because I gave my word to my Hokage that I would protect this village, even those in it who hate me, I am a Shinobi of Konohagakure and although they may hate me and wish me gone or dead it is my duty to protect them and this village until my death." he said proudly, the words of his master echoing in his mind. Gaara seemed unable to process this statement and yet it looked as though he was trying to. Naruto simply knelt beside him, still and watching, as the dots seemed to connect in Gaara's mind.

"You do not hate, yet you are strong. You protect those who should have earned your anger. You show loyalty to someone other than yourself. Your Hokage..he is the reason, your fight for him, not for your village, but for this one man!" Gaara exclaimed.

"He is my precious person, I have other precious people but he was the first one to acknowledge me as Naruto, he took me into his arms and simply held me as father would a son. He became my ideals, my most precious person. And, Gaara, once you have one precious person, others will come." Naruto replied with a soft smile.

"I have no precious people..No one can love me, please end my life Naruto Uzumaki" Gaara said with a defeated tone that made Naruto frown. He was about to reply when he heard a sound to his left.

"No!" a female voice screamed followed by a blur throwing herself over Gaara who's eyes shot open with shock. Whether it was because she was protecting him or because she was touching him at all Naruto didn't know. "Don't worry, your brother will live, my task was to stop him only, not kill him. But Gaara, consider this your chance to truly see who you are and who you could become. You say you have no precious people and yet..." Naruto looked at Temari as he finished.

A huge explosion rocked the area causing them all to glance back towards the village which caused Naruto to frown deeply and jump into the nearest tree before glancing back down in to the clearing where Gaara still lay on his back with Temari laying over him with tears in her eyes. Naruto and Gaara looked at each other for a long moment, understanding passed between them and Naruto turned around and leapt into the trees back towards the village.

* * *

Naruto flew through the trees at a steady pace the branches and floor below him blurring past at in a steady stream, so he could give his body chance to recover from the fight with Gaara, already he could feel the fox replenishing his chakra and soothing his muscles. "You sure are useful to have around fox" he muttered quietly to himself ignoring the annoyed grunt that echoed in the back of his head. He could tell things where coming to a head in the village as the smoke was beginning to thin and the toads that Jiraya has summoned to battle the giant snakes had also been dismissed. He hit his next landing hard and channelled a large amount of chakra into his feet before pushing off and expelling the chakra propelling himself high above the trees so he could get a better look at the village. The Fox responded instantly by channelling its chakra into his eyes making the pupils slit and granting him incredible long distance vision.

There were many fires visible from this distance and the first hundred or so meters in from the village entrance was now nothing but rubble due to the summons battles.A large purple box of chakra could be seen in the stadium that was surrounding the platform and roof around where the Kages were sitting before this invasion began., Naruto knew without a doubt that his master was within that purple box right now. And as he looked at the box his heart suddenly clenched and caused a brief shock to his system. He recovered from his shock on the descent back down to the trees and he channelled more chakra into his feet and blasted off from the tree towards the village with the small licking tendrils of fear touching at the edges of his mind.

"Something is not right...Master.."

* * *

As Naruto jumped into a small clearing he was forced to stop suddenly as he sensed someone hiding just beyond the tree line in front of him. A flash of gray was the only warning he got as a kunai pierced him between the eyes and his body fell back and hit the floor lifeless. A ninja stepped out from the tree line cautiously making sure his target was dead.

The sound ninja let a smirk appear as he poked the leaf genin's body only for it to morph into a silent scream as Naruto's own kunai entered his lung from behind and his hand reached up and wrenched the ninjas neck sharply to the side with a crack. Naruto was already back in the tree's and moving before the body hit the floor.

Naruto had decided it was finally time to stop hiding behind the mask he and his master had created and refined. The carefree goofy idiot was gone, replaced by the true shinobi that Sarutobi Hiruzun had moulded with his own hand for almost a decade. The years he trained, every single day from dawn until dusk, the words his master had drilled into him, the styles, the techniques, the knowledge, it was time for it to start coming to the surface. It was time for Naruto to become who he was meant to be. Not even Jiraya knew the depths of Naruto's strength and cunning despite having had a hand in his training as well.

_10 Years ago._

Sarutobi, the Third Hokage of Konoha stood before the young, blond haired and slightly afraid child in the deepest wilderness of Fire country, in a place only he and his sensei had ever set foot, a private training ground. Hidden away by various seals and by nature itself, it was the perfect place to act out his plan.

The clearing stood in the center of a hollowed out mountain with an open top to allow the sky and the sun in. There was a small river running through it from an unknown source that had a handful of hot-springs sitting near its northern mouth. The trees were tall and strong and enfused with so much chakra that destroying one was in insurmountable task. The lush green grass between the trees was soft and fresh and a perfect aid to meditation.

Sarutobi turned his head back to boy in front of him, sighed before steeling himself and spoke.

"I hope you can forgive me for this Naruto" He said before ordering the boy to change into the clothes that had been made for him, heavily weighted and very strong they looked a little silly on the child almost like he was wearing three of four layers of clothing, but he would grow into them. Naruto was unable to talk and could only understand the most basic of conversation, he had suffered greatly at the hands of the village and his education was just a small part of it, something Sarutobi intended to fix.

What followed was many years of hard study and practice followed by many many cuts and bruises. Any time Sarutobi could spare it he was there at the clearing teaching Naruto something, be it how to read and write or how to block the numerous punches that Sarutobi threw at him.

_Present Time_

It took several years in the place, with the Hokage sending out clones henge'd as Naruto to fool the village, to get him to a level of intelligence that was suitable for the what the Hokage wanted to teach him but when he got there he soaked up every lesson like a sponge, learned every technique within a few days and increased his physical power to levels that most ninja could never hope to reach.

It was Naruto's idea that he continue to play the idiot when he finally returned to Konoha, to keep up the illusion that he was no threat. Sarutobi agreed and they worked on getting his life story perfect.

It was very easy for Naruto to integrate himself back into village life but very difficult for him to throttle back his strength to that of an academy student.

He managed to keep his skill hidden though, passing both the genin and chunin exams by the skin of his teeth, and now it was time to stop hiding, it was time to show his master just how proud he should be.

* * *

He flew across the village wall and bounded across rooftops until he landed atop the stadium walls. What he saw made him freeze his blood ran cold and his heart seemed to stop, his master had just hit the floor and there was no life in his eyes. Naruto's pupils became slit, red began bleeding into his normally gleaming blue eyes and a raging orange and red chakra began rising from his skin and with it came a terrible all encompassing rage was burning through his body as he stared at the body of his Master, His Hokage, his most precious person. He saw Orochimaru and his bodyguards about to make their getaway before looking back at Sarutobi and opening himself up rage inside of him.

Locked away within the darkness of the seal a single blood red eye snapped open and a cruel laugh boomed out into Naruto's mind. Naruto was actually pulling out the fox's chakra without permission. Never before had the fox felt such pure hatred from the boy, such blood-thirst and his anger was intoxicating. the fox decided he would help the boy out a little, especially if this blood-thirst was to happen again. With a small manipulation of his chakra he removed as much of the taint as he could so that Naruto's mind would retain its faculties.

The purple barrier faded, Naruto blinked and he was gone from the roof across the stadium floor and his fist was pushed clean through the largest of Orochimaru's bodyguards. The large man seemed unable to understand that he was dead as he looked at the fist protruding from the place his heart used to be. Naruto simply threw his arm back launching the corpse off the roof and down to the arena floor.

The three remaining bodyguards got over their shock within seconds and moved to attack Naruto in order to protect their Lord Orochimaru. Three tails of pure malevolent red chakra exploded from the base of Naruto's back and speared them all through their foreheads. They too where thrown away like cheap toys leaving Orochimaru alone, his arms useless to him, in the face of an enraged Jinchuriki. Through the haze of pain from his soulless arms, he felt true fear bubble up inside of him.

"You are Orochimaru of the Sannin, student of my master.."Naruto said in a clam voice which betrayed the wild, angry and raging chakra floating around him.

"ghn..Who are you?" Orochimaru asked in a pained voice. His arms were burning in agony and Naruto had just taken out his four most powerful soldiers as if they were nothing, in his current state he knew there was a very real possibility that he could die should Naruto choose to attack.

"I am Naruto Uzumaki the last student of Sarutobi Hiruzen and Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune" He said in that same calm voice ignoring the shocked reaction that the ANBU standing around his fallen master had to his statement. Orochimaru stared at Naruto as though did not believe him despite the obvious power and speed he had shown thus far. And of course there were the three tails of malevolent chakra floating behind him.

"Our master once allowed you to live knowing it would cost the lives of many, I will now rectify his mistake."

Two chakra tails struck and Orochimaru's already useless we speared and pulled wide causing him more pain than he thought he could feel. The tails wrenched him up and the third tails wrapped around his feet holding him there, crucified before Naruto.

Naruto stared into the eyes of his master's killer for a moment before holding out his right hand with the fingers curled between himself and Orochimaru. With his left hand he began making hand seals at a rapid pace which caused various chakra seals to appear floating just in front of his finger tips. Once there was a seal on each of his digits he thrust them hard into the prone Sannin's forehead.

"Fuin Jutsu: Gogyo Fuja Hoin" he intoned quietly

Orochimaru expected to feel pain or maybe some kind of chakra disruption from this unknown seal but was surprised when he felt nothing more than a small wave of chakra wash over him and then fade. After a moment of simply staring at each other Orochimaru began to laugh at the Naruto thinking he had failed in his attempt at sealing.

The ANBU watching were preparing to make their move when Orochimaru's laughter began to die down due to the lack of concern on Naruto's face. This calm uncaring look made Orochimaru very nervous and start to consider that maybe Naruto hadn't failed his technique after all.

"What did you do to me boy? I have never heard of that sealing technique before." He asked with a small quiver in his voice.

"I have sealed your soul within your body in order to prevent you from using the body takeover jutsu you were trying to create, our master developed this seal specifically for you in case you ever completed your foolish immortality jutsu, he received word of that you were looking for a particularly powerful individual for reasons you refused to reveal. You then placed your cursed seal upon Sasuke Uchiha, that was enough evidence for my master. And now this next seal is a modified version of the seal the Yondiame used to seal the Demon Fox within me"

Orochimaru's eyes betrayed him and showed his fear at those words.

More seals appeared on Naruto's fingertips this time requiring no hand seals to form and once again he stuck Orochimaru on the forehead directly on top of his previous seal.

"Fuin Jutsu: Shish O Fuin"

As soon as Naruto's fingers struck Orochimaru's head the seal activated and he began to feel the pull on his soul much like he had with his old Sensei's technique.

"What did you do boy, you called the Death God like your foolish master?" He said with a smirk knowing he could fight this like he did before, after all Naruto was nothing compared to the death god.. His smirk died however once he noticed that Naruto's fingers remained stuck to his forehead and the strange white wisps of his soul we not being pulled behind Naruto as they were with Sarutobi but downwards towards the boys belly.

"You do not deserve to die in such a painless manner, the seal that I have placed on you will pull your soul into the Shiki Fujin where the Kyuubi no Kitsune resides...you will be it's play thing until the day I die or until he grows bored and decides to consume you, which ever comes first." The calm way in which this news was delivered ensured that Orochimaru knew he spoke the truth and he began thrashing and cursing trying to escape.

"You will not escape, your arms are useless, you are held in place by my chakra and your soul jumping technique is disabled, even the fox itself has admitted that it cannot break free so you stand no chance at all. This is the end for you Orochimaru of the Sannin..I pray that the Kyuubi chooses to consume you rather than play with you." and then with a sharp tug Naruto pulled his fingers free from the seal on Orochimaru's forehead pulling with it the last few wisps of the Snake Sannin's soul. They flowed into the seal on his stomach which glowed briefly before settling and Naruto heard a faint chuckle along with a feeling of thanks from the back of his mind.

Orochimaru's body fell to the ground beside the body of the Third Hokage, and just as lifeless.

* * *

The ANBU stood tense and still, ready to defend themselves as the Kyuubi child dropped Orochimaru's body to the floor. They began to relax as the oppressive demonic chakra began to fade and Naruto turned to face them. He kicked Orochimaru's body and it landed at their feet. "Burn it, so that no one can learn his secrets" He said with a calm authority that the ANBU members found themselves unconsciously obeying as their hands formed seals and fire exploded from their mouths engulfing the body and reducing it to ashes within seconds. The ashes were then taken away by the wind to their final resting place.

Naruto watched with guarded eyes until he was sure the man who killed his master was gone, his flesh at least. He glanced to the side at the body of Sarutobi, the ANBU has moved him into a respectful position and cleaned away the blood from his face as best they could.

He knelt down beside his master, his head bowed and tears stinging the edges of his eyes. A hand landed on his shoulder and he looked up to see Jiraya looking down at Sarutobi, openly crying at the loss of his fallen sensei.

It was time of Mourning for Konohagakure. And it was also a time of rebuilding.


End file.
